The present invention relates to surgical cassettes and more particularly to a system for loading and unloading surgical cassettes.
The use of cassettes with surgical instruments to help manage irrigation and aspiration flows into a surgical site are well-known. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,493,695, 4,627,833 (Cook), U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,258 (Wang, et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,051 (Steppe, et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,850 (DeMeo, et al.), U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,758,238, 4,790,816 (Sundblom, et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,956, 5,364,342 (Beuchat) all disclose tubeless or tube-type surgical cassettes and are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
One of the primary function of the cassettes disclosed above is to control aspiration (vacuum) level at the surgical site. The vacuum generating device generally is contained within the surgical system control console and may be a venturi, diaphragm or peristaltic pump. When a peristaltic pump is used, the cassette generally contains a peristaltic pump tube that may be compressed within a race by a rotating pump roller head (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,051, Steppe, et al.) or may be stretched over the rotating pump roller head (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,267,956 and 5,364,342, Beuchat). When the pump tube is stretched over the roller head, it may be difficult not only to install the pump tube over the roller head, but also to remove the pump tube from the roller head. The operation of peristaltic pump roller heads, and particularly peristaltic pump roller heads used in ophthalmic instruments, is more fully disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,614 (Zanger, et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,088 (Knapp, et al.), the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system to assist in loading and unloading a surgical cassette.